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Research paper tips from QuestiaTue, 03 Mar 2015 17:28:25 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.15 steps to an impressive research paperhttp://blog.questia.com/2014/06/5-steps-to-an-impressive-research-paper/
http://blog.questia.com/2014/06/5-steps-to-an-impressive-research-paper/#commentsFri, 27 Jun 2014 16:18:59 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=28059If your first reaction when a professor assigns a research paper involves sweaty palms, increased heart rate or a stomach tied in knots, you’re not alone. Many college students dread writing research papers because the process can seem grueling and much more stressful than simply studying material for an upcoming exam.

Writing a research paper becomes all too common during one’s college years. (Credit: Quick Meme)

The good news is that there are many readily available resources you can use to ensure you get a good grade on your research paper – you just have to know where to find them. That’s where we come in. Read on for the five steps to follow if you want a stellar research paper.

Step 1: Take a deep breath and read the fine print

Your professor has just assigned the research paper. If they haven’t provided you with a specific topic to cover, now is the time to narrow down what you’d like to research. Once you think you’ve found an interesting topic, see if you can crank out some prewriting with your given topic. Start with these:

State your thesis.

Write the supporting ideas your research paper will discuss.

Write an outline.

According to Texas A&M University’s Writing Center, “Prewriting is like a plan of attack. …if all has gone well, you understand your assignment.” If you feel confident about what you’ve put together from the above bullet points, it’s time to move along to the next step.

Step 2: Find scholarly articles

At Questia, you will find millions of books and articles that have been “preapproved” as being credible, full-text sources. You won’t have to worry that your professor will take points off because you were unsure whether a source you used was or was not legal to use – and yes, Wikipedia is one of those sources that is not acceptable. Capiche?

Step 3: Understanding citations in a research paper

Citations can be tricky because there are a wide range of styles it comes in:

MLA (Modern Language Association)

APA (American Psychological Association)

Chicago Manual of Style

Each are unique in their own way, but knowing which style your professor is asking for is very important – it could potentially make or break your final grade. The reason you must use citations in a research paper is because your professor wants to know where exactly you received your information (again, please don’t say Wikipedia). This also gives them a chance to read more about a specific fact you have stated in your paper.

Step 4: Practice makes perfect

This is the part where you write your first draft. If you go back to Step 1, keep in mind what you wrote down for your thesis, supporting ideas and outline. Be sure to include those in your research paper. Once you have finished your first draft, read it to yourself or have a friend or classmate read it for you. Having a fresh set of eyes view your work is helpful because you can find out if others can easily identify your thesis and supporting ideas.

“Research Paper: Write a First Draft” from Teacher Vision offers an excellent step-by-step process on each part of your research paper. Use it as your guide as you write up your first draft.

Step 5: Check your grammar, punctuation and spelling

Poor grammar, punctuation and spelling tend to be one of my personal biggest pet peeves. If these items in your research paper are not done properly, you can’t expect others to understand the point you are trying to make. Take a look at The Good Grammar Guide by Richard Palmer, where you will find a brief narrative by the author that “contains thirty real or alleged errors of varying kinds, including wrong or suspect use of words; mistakes in word order; errors in agreement and number; confusion and ambiguity; faulty use of cases.”

This exercise will help you determine the right and wrong answers, and full explanations are offered afterwards.

For more help and information on how to ace your next research paper, visit the tutorials page at Questia.

What’s the best tip you can offer on how to write a grade-A research paper? Share it with us in the comments!

As we have seen in our series on writing a research paper, it’s important to allow yourself enough time to complete your assignment. The entire process begins with choosing your topic and includes research, creating thesis statements, writing, inserting citations, revising, formatting and writing your conclusion. Let’s review the highlights of the research paper writing process.

Writing a research paper: Finding research paper topics

In week one of writing your research paper you spent your time finding the right topic. Along the way you probably learned that the best topic is one that is tightly focused.

“Taking a few minutes to read about your topic in a specialized encyclopedia, dictionary or handbook may be one of the most effective and time saving research tips on this list. You will probably refine and refocus your topic several times before you finalize it,” they said.

Writing a research paper: How to take notes and create thesis statements

In part two of our series we talked about how to take notes and create your thesis statement. Taking notes while you read will help you to write your paper and cite your sources. But taking notes for a paper is different from taking notes in class.

You’ll get helpful tips and tutorials on research and note-taking at Questia, the Internet’s largest online library of full-text books and articles. For example, the tutorial on reading critically explains how to get the most from the books and articles that serve as resources for your paper.

Tips for reading include:

skim first, taking in headings and bolded terms

start recording your ideas as you re-read the text

underline terms you don’t understand

write down any questions that you have

summarize what you’ve read in your own words

Your reading and the notes you take will help you to frame your thesis statement. The rest of your efforts will be centered around explaining the thesis statement to your readers. The typical thesis statement:

answers a question, or,

takes a position on an issue

The librarians at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC) writing center give several tips to help students craft good thesis statements.

“Does my thesis pass the ‘So what?’ test? If a reader’s first response is, ‘So what?’ then you need to clarify, to forge a relationship, or to connect to a larger issue,” they suggested.

Writing a research paper: How to write an outline, draft and create citations

All of your notes will eventually become the outline of your paper. You’ll find rules for outlining at the Los Angeles Valley College library website. In their article on How to Write an Outline they offered samples and general rules for writing outlines.

“The most common order in outlines is to go from the general to the specific. This means you begin with a general idea and then support it with specific examples,” they said.

Once you have your outline, your paper practically writes itself. Remember to add citations as you write. Without proper citations you risk committing plagiarism – an offense that could cost you your grade.

Writing a research paper: Revising, formatting and writing the conclusion

Revising your paper may be the most important step in the writing process. The experts at the writing center at the College of the Sequoias offered these words of advice, “A surprisingly low amount of people refer back to the assignment instructions that their professor has given them while they are writing their paper, though it can be exceptionally useful when revising.”

Formatting your paper means following proper guidelines for either MLA or APA formats. Check with your professor to make sure that you know which format is required for your paper. Writing your conclusion means discussing what you covered in the paper. It is not the place to bring up new ideas or information.

Wrapping it up

During your four years of college, chances are you’ll be writing plenty of research papers. If you plan ahead and allow yourself plenty of time, you’ll be able to take advantage of the many resources available to help you craft an “A” paper without a lot of stress or anxiety.

The final steps in writing a research paper means you’re almost to the finish line. (Courtesy of Joshbdork)

In week four of writing a research paper you’re near the end of the process. However, you still have plenty to do. You’ll want to get feedback from your professor and make revisions to your paper. Double-check your citations to make sure that you avoid plagiarism. Oh, and don’t forget the formatting. You want the paper to be readable and to conform to guidelines. Now is also the time to write your conclusion where you’ll wrap everything up in a few insightful paragraphs.

Revising your research paper

It’s a good idea to put your paper aside for a few days and work on other assignments. Then revisit your paper with new eyes. You may find that what seemed like witty prose is actually false logic and muddled reasoning. Time to roll up your sleeves and revise.

You’ll find helpful suggestions on how to revise your paper from the writing center of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Their advice is to look at the big issues when revising. Don’t get bogged down in little things like formatting. Not yet. Think about your thesis statement again and ask yourself if your paper has explained your thesis.

If you feel stuck, you should check with your professor for advice on how to proceed. Be sure to think about the organization of your paper. Does it flow from one topic to the next in a way that makes sense? Have you spent too much time on one issue more than the others? Have you said anything that could be misleading to the reader? You know what you meant, but will they?

Research paper citations

Which format must you use for your citations: MLA or APA? MLA formatting is typically used in liberal arts and humanities courses while APA is used in the social sciences. If you’re not sure then ask your professor. Whatever the style, there are many tasks that are common to citing your sources.

First, you need to know what type of publication the source is from. Sources can come in many forms:

books

periodicals (magazine, newspaper, scholarly journal)

reports

websites

What else do you need to know to complete a citation? You need to know:

author name

title of book, article, report or website

publisher (if more than one is listed, use the first)

year of publication (if more than one is listed, use the most recent)

If you haven’t checked out the research tutorials on Questia, now is the time to do that. You’ll find plenty of tools to help you complete your research paper. For example, in the tutorial on identifying and working with sources you’ll find tips on working with websites as sources.

“If a webpage doesn’t have an individual or corporate author, look for links labeled home, about us, biography or contact us. In addition to possibly leading you to the sponsor, about us can also help you evaluate the site’s credibility. If you’re still unable to locate the name of an author, begin your entry with the title of the page,” the tutorial suggests.

Help with formatting

Inserting citations in the correct format (MLA or APA) can be a challenge. If you’re using Microsoft Word to write your paper then you might want to visit YouTube.com where you’ll find videos that show you how to insert citations and create your references page.

You can find samples of both APA and MLA formatted research papers at the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL).

Writing the conclusion

As you wrote your research paper you moved from general information in your introduction to more specific information in the body of the paper. Now, in your conclusion, you’ll switch back to a more general approach. You’ll begin your conclusion by restating your main points. You might also want to add a call to action or a prediction of how this issue might evolve in the future.

“Remember that once you accomplish these tasks, unless otherwise directed by your instructor, you are finished. Done. Complete. Don’t try to bring in new points or end with a whiz bang(!) conclusion or try to solve world hunger in the final sentence of your conclusion. Simplicity is best for a clear, convincing message.”

If you need a refresher of the first three parts of the research paper series, you can click here for the first part, here for the second part and here for the third part.

Be sure to take advantage of the free trial of Questia. You’ll love the tools and tutorials.

What challenges have you faced in the final stages of writing a research paper? Tell us your experience in the comments below.

Writing a research paper includes many detailed tasks. From choosing your topic to citing sources, there are skills and challenges to be mastered and demonstrated. Whether it’s APA style or MLA style, citing relevant sources in your paper is key to gaining the trust of your reader. Without good sources to buttress your case, your paper may not earn the grade that you desire.

Citation styles for citing sources

When writing your research papers or term papers, you will be asked to follow a particular style of documentation. For college students the choices tend to be either MLA or APA styles.

No matter which style you use, you will be required to have both an in-text citation and a bibliography listing of the publication information. In-text citations are placed within the body of your paper. The citation information appears within parentheses. In-text citations typically include information about the author or title and a reference to a particular passage on a page.

You will use in-text citations whenever you:

quote

paraphrase

summarize sources

The bibliography at the end of your paper lists all of your resources and contains the relevant information that anyone would need in order to find the same information source for themselves.

Avoid plagiarism

Another important reason to cite your sources is to avoid passing off someone else’s work as your own. You use your sources to help you build your case. You don’t use them to give the impression that you came up with these ideas all by yourself. It’s only right to give credit where credit is due.

If you want to know more you can read all about it in The complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarismby Colin Neville. This book not only tells you how to consistently cite your sources, it explains why it’s so important to you as a student. And it’s not just about the grade.

MLA

Modern Language Association (MLA) style is often used in the liberal arts and humanities courses. Your in-text citation will include:

the last name of the author

the page number where you found the fact you are citing

If the source does not have an identifiable author, then you can use the first few words in the name of the source instead of an author name.

If you refer to the author in your lead up to the citation, then you don’t have to include the author name again in the citation itself. You only have to list the page number. Needless to say, videos and web pages won’t have page numbers. In these cases it’s best to introduce your quote or reference to the material by using the author’s name. This will eliminate the need for parentheses at the end of the sentence.

APA

American Psychological Association (APA) style is used most often in the social and behavioral sciences, business and nursing. Here again, you will use in-text citations and a corresponding reference list at the end of your paper. You will place your in-text citation in parentheses directly after your quotation, paraphrase or summary. Include the author’s last name, the publication year and sometimes the page number.

If there is no author, then use the first few words of the source’s title instead. Or, you can use a signal phrase such as: “according to . . . ” and then the author’s name.

For examples of correct APA citations check out the Cornell University Library APA Citation Style page.

Your reference page

At the end of your paper, on a separate page, you will list all of your sources and the relevant information on how to find them. MLA calls this page the Works Cited and APA calls it References.

All sources are listed in alphabetical order by the last name of the primary author of the piece. Sources without an identifiable author are listed by the first significant words in the source’s title.

Help with your citations

If all of this still sounds too complicated, then you’re in luck. Questia provides its members with research tools and tutorials including a citation building program that can help you correctly cite your sources. As a member of Questia you’ll be able to:

read full-text books and articles

save sources to your project for inclusion in your citation list

highlight a passage and select a citation style to create your citation

save citations to your project

If you haven’t become a member of Questia then take it for a test run for free!

What do you find most challenging about citing sources in your research papers?

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2013/08/citing-sources-tips-and-tools-for-citing-apa-style-or-mla-style-with-confidence/feed/12Research paper citations — From tricky to uniquehttp://blog.questia.com/2012/11/research-paper-citations-from-tricky-to-unique/
http://blog.questia.com/2012/11/research-paper-citations-from-tricky-to-unique/#commentsTue, 20 Nov 2012 18:13:25 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=2848You’ve been assigned a research paper. Time to brush up on how to use citations! Proper use of citations not only shows that you actually did some research (key to a “research” paper), but they also help you avoid any issues of plagiarism. Certain citations are fairly straightforward (i.e. those for books). But what about more tricky or unique types, such as interviews, blog comments or text messages? Believe it or not, there are even citation rules for these. So read on to find out how to include even the most unique research paper citations.

Why cite?

A bit rusty on why you even need to list citations in your research paper? Emory University’s Emory Libraries Oxford College Library website advises students in “Citing Your Sources” that the only time you don’t need to cite a source is when “you are writing your own words, ideas, or original research. You also do not need to cite information that is considered common knowledge.” They provide the following verbatim examples of information that falls into the common knowledge category:

Facts that are found in many sources (example: Marie Antoinette was guillotined in 1793.)

Things that are easily observed (example: Many people talk on cell phones while driving.)

Common sayings (example: Every man has his price.)

The site adds that research paper citations are a great way to:

Avoid plagiarism by properly crediting the person whose words or ideas you used as a source.

Make sure your professor knows which ideas presented are yours and which are not.

Create a more powerful argument in your paper.

Let your professor double check the ideas you are offering and make sure they are accurate.

Give people who are interested access to more information about the topic you are writing on.

Unusual citations

Not sure how to properly cite a personal interview or an oral presentation? What about citing a sculpture or a digital file, such as a MP3 or JPEG? There are rules about all of these types of sources when it comes to writing a research paper, regardless if you are writing in APA, Chicago or MLA style.

You may also be called upon to list your research paper citations using The Chicago Manual of Style. Their website details the rules for formatting bibliographic information according to their terms on the Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide page. Here you can find out about unusual citations, too, including how to credit a chapter of an edited volume originally published somewhere else, email, and text messages.

Utilizing sources other than traditional books can be a bonus for your research paper in many ways. For some topics, these unusual citations may be your best source of information and show your professors a willingness to be creative in your work and thought processes. So don’t shy away from using a different source, so long as it is valid.

The ultimate research tool

So where do you go when you need to find that essential information for your upcoming research paper? Questia, of course! Our search engine contains more than 70,000 online books and more than 6 million quality, citable journal, newspaper and magazine articles. Questia can even help by creating and formatting your research paper citations for you. Simply highlight the text you want to cite and a drop down menu appears asking you if you are using MLA, APA or Chicago style. Should you need any help, Questia also offers experienced, on-staff librarians who are available to answer your questions. Now get going. Questia can help, but it can’t type that paper for you!

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2012/11/research-paper-citations-from-tricky-to-unique/feed/5Don’t derail your research papers — How to avoid citation errorshttp://blog.questia.com/2012/11/dont-derail-your-research-papers-how-to-avoid-citation-errors/
http://blog.questia.com/2012/11/dont-derail-your-research-papers-how-to-avoid-citation-errors/#commentsTue, 13 Nov 2012 15:13:31 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=2844What’s the best research paper? Your first answer is probably “a finished one!” While it may feel awesome to wrap up a grueling paper, you know that just “finished” doesn’t always cut it. Ensuring you have a solid piece of work comes not only from good writing, but also by turning in correct bibliographies, zero citation errors, quality writing and, of course, absolutely no plagiarism. The easiest way to knock out those research papers and be certain you’ve turned in some A+ work? Read on!

Do some research

Maybe you’ve written what feels like hundreds of research papers. Maybe this is your first. Either way, everyone can benefit from a little bit of research first on how to write a great paper. Questia.com is a great source for books that can guide you through the research paper writing process. One book that can help is Schaum’s Writing Great Research Papers by Laurie Rozakis. It details the qualities of a good research paper and offers a top ten list of criteria every paper should include. Paramount among these points are Nos. 7 through 9:

7. The work is original, not plagiarized. Every outside source is carefully documented.
8. All supporting material used in preparation of the paper can be verified.
9. The paper follows a specific format, including the use of correct documentation and a Works Cited page.

Also, be sure you understand thoroughly the assignment and what your professor is looking for in the research paper. Do you have to write an essay or an argumentative work? Do you have to have a specific number of sources? What citation style are you supposed to use? Not paying attention to the professor’s stipulations is a sure-fire way to get the wrong kind of attention for your efforts.

Give credit where it is due

One thing no professor will ever overlook is plagiarism. Quality research papers need sources and supporting materials, but you must always acknowledge their use properly to avoid any issues of copying. The Complete Guide to Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism by Colin Neville is available through Questia.com and provides the Golden Rule of referencing: “to give the reader enough information to help them easily and quickly find the source you have cited. If they wanted to look at your source and check it for themselves, could they find it easily with the information you have supplied?”

Questia makes it easy to include the books you have cited within your research paper with no more than a click of your mouse. Simply save the book to your active project. You can also highlight specific text you wish to cite in your paper using one of three citation styles: APA, Chicago or MLA. Questia automatically generates your bibliography, from your selected citations, in the style you pick.

The website plagiarism.org, in a post “Preventing plagiarism when writing,” urges students writing research papers to “When in doubt, cite sources.” The article also stresses the importance of knowing how to paraphrase, saying “Changing a few words of the original sentences does NOT make your writing a legitimate paraphrase.” The post adds that even rephrased content will need to be cited because the original idea contained in the sentence came from someone other than yourself.

Stay focused

Hopefully you understand the importance of avoiding citation errors and plagiarism, but there are still other ways you can derail your research papers. Writing Center Underground, the blog for the Metropolitan Community College Writing Center, shares the “Top Ten Tips for Writing Research Papers” by E. Mack. Some common issues discussed include:

Lack of organization and focus. Keep the points you want to make together; avoid jumping back and forth between reasons.

Lack of conclusion. Often students concentrate so intensely on the body of a research paper that they overlook the importance of a strong conclusion.

Lack of careful proofreading. Relying on spell-check is not going to help you find word usage errors, one of the most common errors in academic papers. It’s also difficult to find everything in one read-through.

If you properly understand the assignment, thoroughly plan your paper, clearly reference all your sources and absolutely avoid plagiarism, you are sure to construct research papers both you, and your professors, will be proud of.